Comments on: They come from Stilton?

Question: They come from Stilton?

SassHat — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 19:54:02 -0800

Why are they called "stilts"?

Etymology, history? This is an answer needed to satisfy a very curious little girl.

Asked on behalf of Mimi Smarypants, because really, what else was I gonna ask this week?

By: quin

quin — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 20:12:03 -0800

According to dictionary.com it comes from the Middle English stilte.

By: Espy Gillespie

Espy Gillespie — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 20:13:00 -0800

Here's a bit more from the OED:

stilt stilt, ... The Teut. root *stelt- (:-pre-Teut. *steld-) conjectured to mean `to walk stiffly', seems to be represented also in MHG. stolzen to limp, Sw. stulta to totter, stagger, and perh. (if the word be native Teut. ) in OFris. stult, LG. stolt, HG. stolz stately, proud (see stout a.). ]

By: Espy Gillespie

Espy Gillespie — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 20:14:51 -0800

Looking at your link, the person claims to have looked at the OED already, but that seems like as direct an answer as you could want.

By: quin

quin — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 20:15:07 -0800

Even more origins here.

By: slightlybewildered

slightlybewildered — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 20:15:39 -0800

From my Chambers Dictionary of Etymology:

n. Probably before 1300, crutch, in Sir Tristrem; later, one of two poles used in walking above the ground (before 1425); cognate with Middle Low German and Middle Dutch stelte stilt (Modern Dutch stelt, Old High German stelza (modern German Stelze), Swedish stylta and Danish stylte, from Proto-Germanic, *steltjón, Indo-European *steld-, extended from root *stel - standing (Pok.1019)

By: holgate

holgate — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 20:22:07 -0800

Before the 'hat arrives with the full etymology -- though you'll find most of it here, I'll just note the cluster of st- words: stick, stile, stilt, stand, stalk, stem... and point here.

I'd be curious to know if 'walking on stilts' first applied to walking across embedded stilts above marshy ground or water before the whole strap-on thing (ooer).

By: cillit bang

cillit bang — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 06:13:49 -0800

Online Etymology Dioctionaty:

c.1320, "a crutch," from P.Gmc. *steltijon (cf. M.L.G., M.Du. stelte "stilt," O.H.G. stelza "plow handle, crutch"), from PIE *stel- "to put, stand, place, cause to stand" (see stall (1)). Application to "wooden poles for walking across marshy ground, etc." is from c.1440. Meaning "one of the posts on which a building is raised from the ground" is first attested 1697. Stilted in the fig. sense of "pompous, stuffy" is first recorded 1820.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 09:15:01 -0800

I don't really have anything to add to the above etymologies, but I guess I'm puzzled by the whole thing. Here's the quote from Mimi that started this off:

Right before bed, my daughter, aka The Questioner, Ms. Interrogative, or Nora "Hey, You Know What?" Smartypants, asks me why stilts are called stilts. Since that night I have been to several dictionaries, hundreds of linguistic websites, and even scammed a look at the online OED from a librarian friend, and the answer is I DON'T FREAKING KNOW. Nora, please lay off the imponderables when you are supposed to be sleeping.

So she's seen the above etymologies, she presumably knows that it's a Germanic word that probably comes from an Indo-European root meaning 'put, stand, place, cause to stand'... what else is she looking for? "Well, Nora, it was brought to earth by a magic fairy who knew we needed a word for wooden things that help you stand really tall, and she knew the perfect word for those things was stilts, so that's what we call them today!"